Centralized cache storage for runtime systems

ABSTRACT

Described herein are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, that implement a centralized cache storage for runtime systems. A computer program product can include instructions operable to receive a request at a centralized shared cache framework to store an entity; cache the entity in a shared memory in response to the request, where the shared memory is operable to store the entity such that the entity is accessible to runtime systems, and caching the entity in the shared memory comprises storing the entity for one of the runtime systems; receive a request at the centralized shared cache framework to retrieve the entity from the shared memory; and if the entity is stored in the shared memory, retrieve the stored entity from the shared memory, where the centralized shared cache framework is operable to retrieve the entity for any of the runtime systems.

BACKGROUND

The present application relates to digital data processing, and moreparticularly to centralized cache storage for runtime systems.

A runtime system is a code execution environment that executesinstructions or code in user requests and that provides runtime servicesfor that code. Core runtime services can include functionality such asprocess, thread, and memory management (e.g., laying out entities in aserver memory, managing references to entities, and garbage collectingentities). Enhanced runtime services can include functionality such aserror handling and establishing security and connectivity.

One example of a runtime system is a virtual machine (VM). A VM is anabstract machine that can include an instruction set, a set ofregisters, a stack, a heap, and a method area, like a real machine orprocessor. A VM essentially acts as an interface between program codeand the actual processor or hardware platform on which the program codeis to be executed. The program code includes instructions from the VMinstruction set that manipulate the resources of the VM. The VM executesinstructions on the processor or hardware platform on which the VM isrunning, and manipulates the resources of that processor or hardwareplatform, so as to effect the instructions of the program code. In thisway, the same program code can be executed on multiple processors orhardware platforms without having to be rewritten or re-compiled foreach processor or hardware platform. Instead, a VM is implemented foreach processor or hardware platform, and the same program code can beexecuted in each VM. The implementation of a VM can be in code that isrecognized by the processor or hardware platform. Alternatively, theimplementation of a VM can be in code that is built directly into aprocessor.

As an example, a Java source program can be compiled into program codeknown as bytecode. Bytecode can be executed on a Java VM running on anyprocessor or platform. The Java VM can either interpret the bytecode oneinstruction at a time, or the bytecode can be further compiled for thereal processor or platform using a just-in-time (JIT) compiler.

In addition to Java VMs, other examples of VMs include Advanced BusinessApplication Programming language (ABAP) VMs and Common Language Runtime(CLR) VMs. ABAP is a programming language for developing applicationsfor the SAP R/3 system, a widely installed business application systemdeveloped by SAP. The CLR is a managed code execution environmentdeveloped by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash.

When executing, runtime systems create and reference local dataentities. Many different types of local entities can be created,including, for example, strings, constants, and variables, objects thatare instances of a class, runtime representations of a class, and classloaders that are used to load class runtime representations.

When a local entity is no longer being used by a runtime system, thememory being used to store the local entity needs to be reclaimed—i.e.,freed or otherwise released and returned to the pool of availablememory—so that it can be used to store new data entities. In someenvironments, programmers must explicitly reclaim the memory they haveallocated for local entities (e.g., by explicitly calling functions tofree specified sections of memory). In other environments, thereclamation of memory is handled through a technique known as garbagecollection.

Garbage collection is a process designed to identify and reclaim blocksof memory that have been dispensed by a memory allocator but that are nolonger “live” (i.e., no longer being used, as determined, for example,by not being reachable from any currently referenced objects orentities). Entities that are garbage collected are typically referred toas being “dead” as opposed to being live. Garbage collection is usuallyhandled as a background task by runtime systems rather than as anexplicit task by user programs. There are some costs associated withgarbage collection, as access to memory must typically be restricted andruntime systems must sometimes be halted during some portions of thegarbage collection process.

Multiple runtime systems can be executed in parallel in order toincrease the performance and scalability of server environments. Whenmultiple runtime systems are executed in parallel, resource (e.g.,memory) and time consumption can be reduced by sharing entities betweenthe runtime systems. There are multiple techniques that can be used toshare entities, and many different types of entities can be shared(including for example strings, constants, variables, object instances,class runtime representations, and class loaders).

A runtime system can include a cache, which is a temporary storage, in amemory, for entities. In some implementations, entities in a cache canbe directly accessed by programs running in the runtime system. Forexample, a program can store and retrieve entities in the cache. In acache for a Java VM, objects can be cached in a local heap.

SUMMARY

Described herein are methods and apparatus, including computer programproducts, that implement a centralized cache storage for runtimesystems.

In one general aspect, a computer program product, tangibly embodied inan information carrier, includes instructions operable to cause dataprocessing apparatus to receive a request at a centralized shared cacheframework to store an entity; cache the entity in a shared memory inresponse to the request, where the shared memory is operable to storethe entity such that the entity is accessible to runtime systems, andcaching the entity in the shared memory comprises storing the entity forone of the runtime systems; receive a request at the centralized sharedcache framework to retrieve the entity from the shared memory; and ifthe entity is stored in the shared memory, retrieve the stored entityfrom the shared memory, where the centralized shared cache framework isoperable to retrieve the entity for any of the runtime systems.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. Theinstructions to cache the entity in shared memory can includeinstructions to interface the centralized shared cache framework with astorage plug-in to store the entity in a type of memory that isassociated with the storage plug-in. The instructions to cache theentity in shared memory can include instructions to cache a sharedclosure of entities. The instructions to cache a shared closure ofentities can include instructions to cache versions of shared closuresof entities. The instructions to cache a shared closure of entities caninclude instructions to cache at least two types of shared closures, thetypes of shared closures including a first type corresponding to sharedclosures being mappable; and a second type corresponding to sharedclosures being copy-only.

The computer program product can further include instructions to lockthe second type of shared closures to prevent multiple accesses to acopy-only shared closure. The instructions to retrieve the stored entityfrom the shared memory can include instructions to retrieve a cachedentity that is of the first type of shared closure by mapping the cachedentity to a runtime system. The instructions to retrieve the storedentity from the shared memory can include instructions to retrieve acached entity that is of the second type of shared closure by copyingthe cached entity to a local memory of a runtime system. The computerprogram product can further include instructions to determine the memoryused by cached entities. The runtime systems can be virtual machines,including Java virtual machines.

In another aspect, a computer program product, tangibly embodied in aninformation carrier, includes instructions operable to cause dataprocessing apparatus to receive a request at a cache framework from Javavirtual machines to determine an amount of memory used by the cacheframework; determine a first amount of memory used by the cacheframework; and send the first amount in response to the request.

In another aspect, a server computer system includes a shared memoryoperable to store entities accessible to runtime systems; and acentralized shared cache framework operable to perform operationsincluding caching entities for one of the runtime systems in the sharedmemory, where the shared cache framework stores the cached entities inthe shared memory and the centralized shared cache framework enablesaccess to the cached entities to runtime systems such that any of theruntime systems can access a same entity.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. Theserver computer system can further include an interface for differentcache storage plug-ins, each storage plug-in associated with a type ofmemory and operable to interface the type of memory with the centralizedshared cache framework. The server computer system can further include acache storage plug-in operable to interface a database with the sharedcache framework. Caching entities can include caching shared closures ofentities. The centralized shared cache framework can be further operableto determine an amount of memory consumed by cached entities. The cacheframework can be further operable to determine the memory consumed bythe cached entities based on a function operable to determine an amountof memory used by a shared closure of entities. The runtime systems canbe Java virtual machines.

In another aspect, a server computer system includes at least onememory; at least one Java virtual machine; and a cache frameworkoperable to perform operations including caching entities for the atleast one Java virtual machine in the at least one memory; anddetermining an amount of memory used by the cache framework in the atleast one memory.

The centralized cache storage for runtime systems described here can beimplemented to realize one or more of the following advantages.

A centralized cache in shared memory is provided. Because the cache isshared, multiple runtime systems can access the same cache entries.Also, because the cache is centralized (e.g., rather than distributed),multiple copies of an entity in the cache need not be made. In addition,administration costs for a cache framework can be reduced, as there maybe less administration required for a centralized cache framework thanother types of caches. For example, process communication requiredbetween runtime systems to ensure consistency in a distributed sharedcache need not be implemented in a centralized cache, as there need notbe multiple copies of an entity. Because the cache is centralized, lockscan be used and access to entities in the cache can be prevented suchthat an access to an entity in the cache does not risk being updated bymultiple runtime systems at the same time. For example, without locks, afirst and second runtime system may concurrently access the same-cachedentity in a centralized cache. In that example, if the first runtimesystem updates the object, undesirable and/or unexpected behavior canoccur (e.g., because the second runtime system did not foresee changesto the entity while the second runtime system is accessing the entity).

A centralized shared cache can support versioning of cached entities. Bysupporting versioning, cached entities can be accessed and modified bymultiple runtime systems. The cache framework can support caching ofshared closures of entities such that entities that would otherwise notbe shareable across runtime systems, because of an affinity between theruntime system and the entities (e.g., by having pointers or referencesinto any private heap), can be stored in a shared memory and cachedacross runtime systems. The cache framework can use a function todetermine the memory usage of the cache and, thus, can limit the overallcache size (i.e., amount of memory consumed by a shared cache memory).

Details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features and advantages may beapparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects will now be described in detail with referenceto the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary client/server system.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the sharing of entities between VMs in aclient/server system.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts illustrating processes for creating andusing shared objects.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a system landscape including multiple VMs,a centralized shared memory, and a shared cache framework manager.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of responding to a user request tostore an entity in a cache.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process of responding to a user request toretrieve an entity from a cache.

FIG. 8 is an illustration corresponding to a cache system in whichmultiple thresholds are associated with multiple fill metrics.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process of evicting cached entries.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A Client/Server System

FIG. 1 illustrates a client/server system 50 in which a network 75 linksa server 80 to client systems 62, 64, and 66. The server 80 is aprogrammable data processing system suitable for implementing apparatus,programs, or methods in accordance with the description. The server 80provides a core operating environment for one or more runtime systemsthat process user requests. The server 80 includes a processor 85 and amemory 90. The memory 90 can be used to store an operating system, aTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack forcommunicating over the network 75, and machine-executable instructionsexecuted by the processor 85. In some implementations, the server 80 caninclude multiple processors, each of which can be used to executemachine-executable instructions. The memory 90 can include a sharedmemory area 92 that is accessible by multiple operating system processesexecuting in the server 90. An example of a suitable server that can beused in the client/server system 50 is a Java 2 Platform, EnterpriseEdition (J2EE) compatible server (Java virtual machine specificationavailable from Sun Microsystems, Santa Clara, Calif.), such as the WebApplication Server developed by SAP AG of Walldorf (Baden), Germany(SAP), or the WebSphere Application Server developed by IBM Corp. ofArmonk, N.Y.

Client systems 62, 64, and 66 can execute multiple applications orapplication interfaces. Each instance of an application or anapplication interface can constitute a user session. Each user sessioncan generate one or more requests to be processed by the server 80. Therequests can include instructions or code to be executed on a runtimesystem (e.g., the virtual machine 100) on the server 80.

Shared Closures

Runtime systems can share data entities in order to reduce resource andtime consumption (e.g., the time required to build and initializemultiple copies of an object, and the memory required to store thosecopies). Entities can be shared through various techniques. For example,entities can be shared by storing them in a shared memory area or heapthat is accessible by multiple runtime systems.

In general, entities that are shared through a shared memory heap shouldnot have any pointers or references into any private heap (e.g., thelocal memories of individual VMs). If an entity in the shared memoryheap has a member variable with a reference to a private entity in oneparticular VM, that reference would be invalid for other VMs that usethat shared entity. More formally, this restriction can be thought of asfollows: for every shared entity, the transitive closure of the entitiesreferenced by the initial entity should only contain shared entities atall times.

Accordingly, in one implementation, entities are not put into the sharedmemory heap by themselves—rather, entities are put into the sharedmemory heap in groups known as “shared closures.” A shared closure is aninitial entity plus the transitive closure of all the entitiesreferenced by the initial entity.

The sharing of entities through shared closures is shown conceptually inFIG. 2A, where a shared closure 450 has been identified in the localmemory of a first VM 400 by grouping a first data entity 410 with thetransitive closure of all the entities referenced by the first entity410. After the shared closure 450 has been identified, the VM 400 cancreate the shared closure in a shared memory area 92, for example, bycopying the shared closure 450 into the shared memory area 92. After theshared closure 450 has been created in the shared memory area 92, it canbe accessed by the VMs in the server (e.g., VMs 200 and 400). A VM canaccess the shared closure 450 from the shared memory area 92 by, forexample, mapping or copying the shared closure 450 from the sharedmemory area 92 into the address space of a process in which the VM isexecuting.

In order to qualify for use within a shared closure, an entity must be“shareable.” In general, a complex data structure (e.g., a heap or aportion thereof) in one runtime system (e.g., a Java VM) can be sharedwith a second runtime system if the data structure can be disassembledand then reassembled in the native format of the second runtime systemwithout breaking the internal consistency or functionality of the datastructure.

In one implementation, entities are shared through the copying of sharedclosures to and from shared memory. For an entity to be shareable insuch an implementation, the entity has to withstand a transparentdeep-copy into the address space of another VM without breaking theinternal consistency or functionality of the entity. The shareabilityconditions for such an implementation generally require the class ofwhich the entity is an instance not to execute any custom code inserializing or deserializing an instance of the class. Additionaldetails about techniques for sharing entities (including shareabilityrequirements and the creation and use of shared closures) can be foundin, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/851,795, entitled“Sharing Objects in Runtime Systems,” filed on May 20, 2004.

FIG. 2B illustrates a snapshot of a shared memory area 92, whichincludes multiple entities being shared by a set of VMs (e.g., the VMs100, 200, and 400). The shared entities include several entities thatare directly referenced by the VMs (e.g., the shared entities 110, 210,and 410). The entities that are directly referenced by one or more ofthe VMs can be thought of as forming a “root set” of shared entities.

The shared entities that are directly referenced by the VMs maythemselves reference other shared entities (e.g., the shared entities117 and 119). The latter shared entities can be thought of as beingindirectly referenced by the VMs, since there are one or morepredecessor entities in the chain of references from the VMs to thoseentities.

Finally, the shared entities in the shared memory area 92 also include anumber of entities that are not currently referenced, either directly orindirectly, by any VM (e.g., the entities 11, 13, and 15). It is theseentities, which are not reachable by any sequence of references from theroot set of shared entities, which can be deemed no longer used andwhich can thus be garbage collected.

The creation and use of shared closures, which are shown in FIG. 2A, canbe realized by sample processes 350 and 450 illustrated in FIGS. 3 and4.

The process 350 depicts an example process that can be used to create ashared closure. In the process 350, an identification of an initialentity in a first runtime system (e.g., a VM) is received (352). Ashared closure—i.e., the initial entity plus the transitive closure ofall the entities that are referenced by the initial entity—is thenidentified (354), and a determination is made regarding whether theshared closure can be used in or shared by another runtime system (e.g.,another VM) (356). This determination can be made, for example, bydetermining whether the entities in the shared closure are shareable (ormore precisely, by determining whether each object instance in theshared closure is a shareable object instance).

If the shared closure is not usable in another runtime system (“no”branch of decision 358), the process 350 raises an exception orgenerates some type of negative indication. For example, if the entitiesin the shared closure are not all shareable entity instances, theprocess can raise an exception to indicate that the initial entity andits shared closure are not shareable.

If the shared closure is usable in other runtime systems (“yes” branchof decision 358), the process 350 invokes a mechanism to make the sharedclosure available to the other runtime systems. For example, if entitiesare shared through the use of shared memory, the shared closure can becopied to a shared memory area (362). In that example, if a VM storesthe shared closure in a shared memory area, the VM can know the addressof the shared closure. If the VM stores the entities in a shared closurein consecutive entries according to addresses, the VM can now thestarting address and ending address of the entities in a shared closure,and thus, know the bounds of the shared closure. In otherimplementations, the shared closure can be transmitted to one or moreruntime systems (e.g., other VMs) through the use of messages or othermeans of communication.

The process of creating a shared closure can also involve associating aspecified name or other identifier with the shared closure (364). Suchan identifier can subsequently be used by other runtime systems toidentify the shared closure to be accessed.

In some implementations, the process of creating a shared closure alsoinvolves the use of versioning. In the process 350, versioning isaccomplished through the use of version numbers that are associated withthe shared closures stored in shared memory. When a shared closure iscreated with a given name, a determination is made regarding whether ashared closure with that name already exists in shared memory. If such ashared closure does exit (“yes” branch of decision 366), the currentversion number associated with the shared closure is increased (368),and the new current version number is associated with the newly createdshared closure (372). If there is no shared closure with the given namein shared memory (“no” branch of decision 366), the current versionnumber for the new shared closure is set to a number that indicates afirst version (e.g., 0 or 1) (370), and associated with the newlycreated shared closure (372).

Versioning can be used to update shared closures—e.g., a new, updatedversion of a shared closure can be created under the same namepreviously given to the shared closure. In one implementation, when anew version of a named shared closure is created, all subsequentoperations to associate the named shared closure with a VM use the newversion of the shared closure. VMs that are already accessing the sharedclosure (e.g., VMs that have a previous version of the shared closuremapped into their address space) are not affected by the newversion—they simply keep all entity references to the old version. Inthis implementation, multiple versions of a shared closure can coexistin shared memory until the obsolete versions are no longer referenced byany VM and thus can be garbage collected.

As part of creating a shared closure, properties of the shared closurecan be stored in, for example, a hashmap that has key/value pairscorresponding to identifiers of shared closures of entities and metainformation for each shared closure. The meta information can includeproperties such as an amount of memory a shared closure consumes and thestarting address of the shared closure. These properties can bedetermined as part of the process of creating a shared closure. The sizeof each shared closure can be determined because, as a runtime systemcreates a shared closure in shared memory, the runtime system mustallocate memory for the shared closure (at the OS level) and place theshared closure in shared memory. Different techniques can be used todetermine the size of a shared closure. The size of a shared closure canbe determined in one example implementation based on the starting andending addresses that define the bounds of the shared closure, if theentities in the shared closure are stored in contiguous memory (e.g.,determined by subtracting the starting address from the ending address).In another example implementation, as the memory is dynamicallyallocated for entities in a shared closure, the size of the entities andcomponents of entities (e.g., primitives in an object) can be tracked todetermine the total size of a shared closure of entities.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a sample process for accessing andusing a shared closure. In the process 450, a name or other identifieris received (452) and used to identify an associated shared closure(454). The name or other identifier corresponds to the identifier thatwas associated with the shared closure when the shared closure wascreated (e.g., in the operation 364 in the process 350). Whereversioning is implemented, if more than one version of a specifiedshared closure exists, the most recently created version of thespecified shared closure is identified.

The identified shared closure is then associated with a runtime system(e.g., a VM) (456). In one implementation, a shared closure can beassociated with a runtime system in one of two ways—either by mappingthe shared closure from a shared memory area into the address space ofthe runtime system, or by copying the shared closure from the sharedmemory area into the address space of the runtime system. After theshared closure has been associated with the runtime system, the entitieswithin the shared closure can be accessed using normal operations (e.g.,normal Java operations) (462).

In some implementations, access to the entities in a shared closure maydepend on how the shared closure is associated with the runtime system.For example, in one implementation, if a shared closure is mapped intothe address space of a VM (“mapped” branch of decision 458), access tothe entities in the shared closure is restricted to read-only access(460). Because of this restriction, any attempt to write to a membervariable of an entity instance in the shared closure will result in anerror. This restriction can be useful to prevent VMs from “breaking”shared entity instances by, for example, overwriting a reference membervariable in a shared object instance with a reference into a VM'sprivate heap, or otherwise breaking the internal consistency orfunctionality of the shared entities.

If, on the other hand, a shared closure is copied into the address spaceof a VM (“copied” branch of decision 458), the VM is granted fullread-write access to the copied entities. In such an implementation, theentities in a shared closure can thus be updated by copying the sharedclosure into the address space of a VM, modifying the content of theentities in the shared closure, and then creating a new version of theshared closure in shared memory (e.g., using the process 350 shown inFIG. 3).

Other approaches can be used to associate a shared closure with aruntime system and to provide access to the entities in the sharedclosure from the runtime system. For example, a copy-on-demand approachcan be used. In one such implementation, a shared closure is mapped intothe address space of a VM without restricting access to the sharedclosure to read-only access. Instead, access to the shared closure ismonitored, and, upon detecting the first attempted write access to theshared closure, the shared closure is copied into the address space ofthe VM, thereby transforming the shared closure from a mapped sharedclosure into a copied shared closure. The attempted write access is thenallowed to complete, and subsequent read and write accesses to thecopied shared closure can proceed as they would normally. If the heapaddress of a shared closure changes when the transformation from amapped shared closure to a copied shared closure occurs, existingreferences to the heap have to be redirected to the newly created copyof the shared closure. Alternatively, underlying OS (operating system)features can be used to map a shared closure in a manner that allows theOS to provide copy-on-demand functionality without heap address changes.

In addition to functions for creating, mapping, and copying sharedclosures; an Application Programming Interface (API) can includeadditional functions for managing shared entities. For example, an APIcan also include a “delete” function. One implementation of a “delete”function takes a name or other identifier as an input parameter, andmarks the associated shared closure in shared memory as being deleted.Marking a shared closure as deleted does not affect VMs that are alreadyaccessing the shared closure, but VMs that subsequently try to accessthe shared closure (e.g., by mapping or copying the shared closure intotheir address spaces) are precluded from doing so.

In an implementation of a server (e.g., the server 80) in which sharedclosures can be mapped into the address spaces of VMs, garbagecollection for deleted or obsolete versions of shared closures can beperformed by keeping track of the number of VMs that have a sharedclosure mapped into their address space. A count can be incremented eachtime a VM maps a shared closure into its address space. The count can bedecremented when, in the course of its own garbage collection, a VMdetermines that it no longer includes any references into the previouslymapped shared closure. When the count associated with a particularshared closure reaches zero, that shared closure can be deleted fromshared memory.

In Java, an object instance typically includes a reference to a runtimerepresentation of the class of the object instance, and the classruntime representation in turn contains a reference to a class loaderfor the class. Consequently, the runtime representation and the classloader associated with a Java object instance are included in the sharedclosure of the object instance, which means that the runtimerepresentation and the class loader must themselves be shareable inorder for the object instance to be shareable. Thus, in a serverimplementation that includes class runtime representations and classloaders, two additional criteria can be used to determine whether aparticular class is shareable: The class should have a shareable runtimerepresentation and a shareable class loader. Various techniques can beused to deal with class runtime representations and class loaders (i.e.,to make class runtime representations and class loaders “shareable”) andcan be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/851,795, entitled“Sharing Objects in Runtime Systems,” filed on May 20, 2004.

The manner in which the shared closure is associated with the VM dependson the type of access needed by the VM. As indicated above, in oneimplementation, mapped shared closures are restricted to read-onlyaccess, so as to prevent a mapping VM from breaking a shared objectinstance in the shared closure by setting a member variable to a valuethat is not valid in other VMs. In such an implementation, if the VMassociated with the user session only needs read access to the entities(i.e., if the VM does not need to modify any of the entities in theshared closure), the shared entities can be mapped into the addressspace of the selected process. The VM can then process the request,reading information from the shared entities as necessary.

If the VM needs read-write access to the shared entities (i.e., if theVM needs to modify one or more of the entities), the shared closure canbe copied into the address space of a process. The VM can then have fullread-write access to the shared entities, and it can process the requestand modify the entities as necessary. When the VM is finished modifyingthe shared entities, the VM can copy the shared closure back to sharedmemory. As indicated previously, in one implementation, a shared closurecan be copied to shared memory by re-creating the shared closure (e.g.,by invoking a “create” function, assigning the same previously used nameto the shared closure, and generating a new version of the sharedclosure if an old version of the shared closure with that name stillexists in shared memory). The entities in the shared closure can includeany type of entity, including entities that store user contextinformation.

A Centralized Cache

A runtime system may include a cache, which is a temporary storage, in amemory, for entities accessed by application programs running in theruntime system. The memory used for a cache can be volatile memory of acomputer system, a storage device, a database, or another type of memoryin which entities to be cached can be stored. Temporary storage in acache implies that entities put in a cache are not expected to remain inthe cache. For example, after an entity is put in a cache, if at a laterpoint in time an access of the cache is made in response to a request toretrieve that entity, the entity might not exist in the cache and therequestor might not have been notified when the entity was removed fromthe cache.

A data source can be chosen for a cache such that an entity in the cachecan be accessed quicker from the cache than from another source (e.g., asource from which the entity originated). For example, a cache may bevolatile memory in a server computer system (e.g., main memory) and anentity may originate from a storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive). Inthat example, the entity should be accessed quicker from the cache thanfrom the original source, as entities typically can be accessed quickerfrom volatile memory than storage devices.

A cache framework can manage many aspects of a cache, such as storingentities in the cache, retrieving entities from the cache, evictingentities in the cache, and the like. A cache, and in particular a cacheframework, can be accessed by a request from an application in a runtimesystem or by a request from the runtime system itself (e.g., if theruntime system automatically uses the cache as a redundant storage tohave quicker access to entities).

Not all runtime systems have a cache, for example, the Java VM does nothave a cache as a standard part of the VM, nor is it part of the Javaspecification. Rather, implementers of a VM must implement a cache. Inan example implementation, there can be one cache per a VM and the cachecan be part of the heap of the VM (i.e., part of the dynamic memoryallocated and/or used by the VM). The cache can be implemented such thatan application can access the cache through an application programminginterface (API). API calls can include put( ) and get( ), where put( )is an API call to put an entity in the cache and get( ) is an API callto retrieve an entity from the cache.

A cache can be implemented as a shared cache, such that cached entitiescan be shared across multiple VMs. For example, a cached entity may beaccessed by one runtime system, modified by that runtime system, andthen the modified version of the cached entity may be retrieved byanother runtime system. Some implementations of a shared cache can havea centralized shared area for sharing cached entities. Advantageously, acentralized shared cache can reduce administration costs of caches on aclient/server system that would otherwise have multiple caches formultiple runtime systems. In addition, resources usage, such asprocessing time and memory consumption, can be reduced. As an example,several entities need not be in multiple caches across a serverlandscape of runtime systems if a centralized cache is used, thus,memory consumption can be reduced. As another example, objects need notbe updated across a server landscape if a centralized cache is used,thus, processing time can be reduced.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a system landscape including multiple VMs501, 502, and 503, a centralized shared memory 520, and a shared cacheframework manager 530. In FIG. 5, the VMs (501, 502, and 503) areprocess-attachable VMs. In a server where VMs are process-attachable,each user session is provided with its own VM in order to isolate usersessions from each other and thereby increase the robustness of thesystem. More specifically, each user session can be provided with itsown process-attachable virtual machine (PAVM), which is a VM that can beattached to and detached from an OS process. A process-attachable VM isinstantiated and used for each user session—for example, VM 501 isinstantiated and used for user session 1, and VM 502 is instantiated andused for user session 2. In general, a server, in one implementation,can have U user sessions, and X PAVMs. This is shown in FIG. 5 by VM503, which corresponds to user session U.

In operation, when a server receives a request, a special process (e.g.,a dispatcher process) dispatches the request to one of the availablework processes in a pool of work process. Assuming that the requestcorresponds to user session 1 (which in turn corresponds to the VM 501),and that the dispatcher process dispatches the request to work process511, the server attaches or binds the VM 501 to work process 511 inorder to process the request. After the request has been processed, theserver can detach VM 501 from the work process 511. Work process 511 canthen be used to process another request. For example, if the serverreceives a new request that corresponds to user session 2, and thedispatcher process dispatches that request to the work process 511, thecorresponding VM 503 can be attached to the work process 511 to processthe new request. Continuing with this example, if the server receivesanother request corresponding to user session 1 while work process 511is still being used to process the request corresponding to user session2, the dispatcher process can dispatch the new request from user session1 to work process 513, and the VM 501 for user session 1 can be attachedto the work process 513 in order to process the new request from usersession 1. A server need not have a dispatcher process. For example, inan alternative implementation, user requests can be serially assigned toprocesses allocated to the server. Each process could maintain a queueof requests, and attach the process-attachable VM of the user sessioncorresponding to the request at a front of the queue in order to processthat request. Although the VMs depicted in FIG. 5 that use thecentralized, shared cache framework are PAVMs, in alternativeimplementations, the VMs need not be process-attachable.

In FIG. 5, a cache includes the centralized shared memory 520 and theshared cache framework manager 530. The centralized shared memory 520 isoperable to store entities for the shared cache framework manager 530.The shared cache memory 520 can be implemented as main memory of acomputer system (e.g., RAM), a storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive),a database, or any other suitable mechanism. The cache memory can beaccessed via a plug-interface (referred to as a storage plug-in) suchthat different types of memories can be used for the cache memory.Entities that can be cached can come from many different types ofmemory, such as a database, a storage device, main memory, and the like.The source of entities can be accessed via a plug-in referred to as adata source plug-in. In general, memory is shared if multiple processesand/or threads can access a same entity in the memory. The centralizedshared memory 520 is a shared memory such that entities in the memory520 do not have an affinity to any of the VMs (501, 502, or 503) or anyof the work processes (511, 512, or 513), and the memory can be accessedby any of the VMs (501, 502, or 503). Cached entities in the sharedmemory can be part of the heap (i.e., dynamically allocated portion ofmemory) of one or more of the VMs (501, 502, or 503).

In some implementations, the shared cache framework manager 530 canaccess the cache by interfacing with the memory 520 via a plug-in,referred to as a storage plug-in. In those implementations, each type ofmemory that can be used as a cache memory (e.g.s, database, storagedevice (e.g., hard disk drive), main memory (e.g., local heap), and thelike) can be accessed via a storage plug-in. Thus, multiple types ofmemory can be accessed easily, alone or in combination, by differentstorage plug-ins. Because there is a standardized interface provided bya plug-in interface, the type of memory can be changed easily. Thestorage plug-in, in addition to defining the type of media, can definehow the items are stored. For example, there can be two storageplug-ins, one for mappable shared closures (i.e., shared closures thatcan be mapped and, in some implementations, copied) and one forcopy-only shared closures (i.e., shared closures that can only becopied).

The shared cache framework manager 530 includes an API 531 and a cacheentry table 532. API calls to the shared cache framework manager 530 arereceived via the API 531. In other words, applications can include codeto cache entities in the cache. API calls can include, a request for ameasurement of the amount of memory used by the centralized sharedmemory 520, a request to retrieve one or more entities in thecentralized shared memory 520 (e.g., a get( )), a request to store oneor more entities in the centralized shared memory 520 (e.g., a put( ))and a request to remove one or more entities in the cache (e.g., aremove( )). Thus, for example, an application can include a put( ) call,where an entity is stored in the cache, and the application can laterattempt to access the cached entity via a geto call. If the entity nolonger exists in the cache (e.g., the entity was explicitly removed byan application or an eviction policy caused the entity to be removed),an error message can be returned; otherwise, the cached entity can bereturned to the application.

The shared cache framework manager 530 manages the cache entry table532. The cache entry table 532 indicates whether an entity is in thecache and indicates locations of entities in the cache (i.e., locationswithin the centralized shared memory 520). Any type of data structurecan be used to implement the cache entry table 532. In one exampleimplementation, a set of hash maps (i.e., a data structure that mapskeys to values) is used as the cache entry table 532. In that example,hash codes can be generated based on a chosen key for an entity (e.g., aname of the entity). The set of hash maps can include one hash map forthe location of a cached entity and other hash maps for properties ofcached entities. In that way, properties can be edited without having toretrieve a cached entity (in contrast to, for example, having propertiesincluded with a cached entity). In the first hash map, a hashed entry(i.e., a hash code) can be associated with an indication of the locationof the entity in a shared memory (e.g., a pointer). Another hash map caninclude an association of the hashed entry with an indication as towhether the item is locked (e.g., cached entries can be locked if it isdecided that concurrent access to a cached entity should not begranted). And, another hash map can include an association of the hashedentry with an indication of the size of a cached entity (e.g., the sizeof a shared closure of entities). Thus, for example, the name of anentity can be sued by the cache framework manager 530 to access a cachedentity by and/or modify entries in the cache entry table 532 thatcorrespond to entities stored in the centralized shared memory 520.Alternative implementations of a cache system can use mechanisms and/ortechniques other than the cache entry table 532 to manage cachedentities.

In alternative implementations, the cache framework manager 530 need nothave an API. For example, applications can interface with thecentralized cache using other techniques and/or mechanisms, which mightinclude manually accessing the cache entry table 532 from applications,applications managing the cache entry table, and applications directlyaccessing the centralized shared memory 520.

The centralized shared memory 520 includes shared closures of entities521, 522, and 523. Shared closures of entities (as described earlier)allow some entities to be shared across runtime systems that wouldotherwise not be shareable. For example, objects that include referencesto other objects might not be shareable across runtime systems as theycan have references and the like that represent an affinity between avirtual machine and the objects. Shared closures of entities overcomethis obstacle by including the transitive closure of all entities suchthat entities, such as Java objects, can be shared across runtimesystems and the affinity between an object and a local heap, can beremoved.

In operation, the cache system depicted in FIG. 5, including the sharedcache framework manager 530 and the centralized shared memory 520, is acentralized shared cache system. The system is centralized such thateach of the VMs 501, 502, and 503 can access a single copy of a cachedentity. For example, an application running in the VM 501 can cause afirst shared closure of entities 522 to be cached in the centralizedshared memory 520. Then, any of the VMs can access the shared closure ofentities 522. For example, as depicted in FIG. 5, the dotted lines 540illustrate that both an application running on the VM 501 and anapplication running on the VM 502 are accessing the shared closure ofentities 522 concurrently. Although in FIG. 5, the lines 540 depict thatthe shared closure of entities 522 can be accessed by two VMsconcurrently, in some implementations, entities in a cache might not beaccessible concurrently.

In some implementations, the cache need not be the only type of heapavailable to a runtime system. For example, other types of dynamicallyallocated memory, such as a local non-cached heap, can be used inaddition to a cache. In some implementations, different scopes can beprovided for different runtime and/or computer system configurations.For example, an application may have a choice of a scope of cachingentities. The scope can include a centralized shared cache for a singlecomputer system (e.g., a single server), or sharing an entity in ashared cache across a cluster of computer systems (e.g., a cluster ofservers). In combination with a non-shared cache, an application canhave an ability to choose three scopes of caching entities including,local heap non-shared cache, single-computer system shared cache, orcluster-wide shared cache. As such, one or more centralized sharedcaches can be implemented in conjunction with a non-shared cache. Forexample, in one implementation, a runtime system can have a local cache(i.e., non-shared, not centralized), each computer system on whichmultiple runtime systems can run can have a centralized shared cachesystem (e.g., a centralized cache per a server), and a centralizedshared cache system can be implemented for a cluster of computer systemincluding each of the computer systems with a centralized shared cachelimited in scope to the computer system (e.g., a centralized cache per acluster of servers).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of responding to a user request tostore an entity in a cache. The process starts when a request isreceived to store an entity in the cache (610). An entity can be, forexample, a string, a constant, a variable, an object instance, a classruntime representation, or a class loader. In some implementations, theentities can only be shared closures of entities to ensure shareabilityof entities in a cache. The request can be received at a cache frameworkmanager, such as the cache framework manager 530. The request can begenerated by an application running at a runtime system or by a runtimesystem itself (e.g., if a runtime system automatically caches entitiesredundantly). If the cache framework redundantly caches entities, aplug-in referred to as a data source plug-in can be used and thatplug-in can facilitate redundant caching of entities. For example, theplug-in can correspond to a persistent storage device (e.g., a hard diskdrive) and the plug-in can be used to interface with the storage devicesuch that entities from the storage device are automatically redundantlystored when they are pulled from the storage device. The request can bein the form of an API call. For example, in Java VM cacheimplementations, an application can make an API call known as put( ), torequest that an entity is added to a cache.

In response to the request, the entity can be stored in a cache memory(620). For example, an entity can be stored in the centralized sharedmemory 520. Storing an entity can involve determining the shared closureof an entity requested to be stored (i.e., determining the transitiveclosure of entities), and storing the shared closure of entities.Storing shared closures of entities, rather than simply storing anentity (regardless of determining whether there are any references toanother entity in that entity) can ensure that entities are shareable(conditions for determining if an entity is shareable and techniques formaking an entity shareable are described in more detail). The type ofcache memory can be chosen by a specified storage plug-in (as describedearlier). For example, storage plug-ins for a cache framework caninclude a mappable or copy-only shared closure plug-in.

An entry for the entity can be created in a cache table (630), such asthe cache entry table 532. Creating the entry can include storing in ahash map an entry that indicates the location of the entity. Inaddition, it can involve storing properties of the entity. In responseto a determination that the entity (i.e., the entity that was requestedto be stored) is to be mapped, the entity is stored and an indicationthat the entity is to be read-only is made (630). In alternativeimplementations a mapped entity need not be limited to read-only access.

Once an entity is stored in a memory and a cache framework of a cachesystem has an entry that corresponds to the entity (i.e., once theentity is cached), the entity can be retrieved.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process of responding to a user request toretrieve an entity from a cache. A request is received to retrieve anentity from the cache (i.e., an entity that might be in the cache)(710). An entity can be, for example, a string, a constant, a variable,an object instance, a class runtime representation, or a class loader.The request can be received at a cache framework manager, such as thecache framework manager 530. The request can be generated by anapplication running at a runtime system or by a runtime system itself(e.g., if a runtime system automatically caches entitiesredundantly—i.e., redundant to a data source that can be used toretrieve the entities, such as a data source accessible via a datasource plug-in). The request can be in the form of an API call. Forexample, in Java VM cache implementations, an application can make anAPI call known as get( ), to request that an entity is retrieved from acache.

In response to the request to retrieve an entity from the cache, adetermination is made as to whether the entity exists in the cache(720). In some implementations, the determination can be made by a cacheframework, or more particularly, a cache framework manager of a cacheframework. For example, a determination can be made by the cacheframework manager 530 of FIG. 5. Determining whether the entity existsin the cache can involve looking up a cache entry in a cache entrytable. For example, the cache framework manager 530 can use the cacheentry table 532 to determine, based on an identification of the entity(e.g., a key), whether the entity exists in the centralized sharedmemory 520. If the entity is not in the cache, a message is returnedindicating that the requested entity was not found (i.e., the entitydoes not exist in the cache) (730). The message can be an error message.In alternative implementations, a cache system can perform otherappropriate actions. For example, an exception can be raised. Also, insome implementations, no action can be taken.

If the entity was found in the cache (e.g., a cache entry in a cacheentry table indicates the entity is stored in a memory), a determinationis made as to whether the entity should be mapped or copied (740). Ifmappable shared closures are chosen to implement the cache, the entitycan be mapped or copied depending on a request. For example, a functionfor retrieving entities from the cache can include two arguments (i.e.,get(argument1, argument2)). The first argument can be used to indicatethe entity to be retrieved and the second argument can be used toindicate whether a shared closure should be mapped or copied. A programcan decide to copy a shared closure if the shared closure is expected tobe modified. That decision can then be included in the second argument.

The choice between mapping and copying shared entities can be used toincrease performance of the cache by having alternative mechanisms forretrieving entities, where each mechanism is optimized for a type ofretrieval. For example, resource consumption can be reduced as mapping ashared closure can be less resource consumptive than copying cachedentities to a local heap and some entities need not be copied and thoseentities can be mapped. In addition, the approach can provideflexibility, as entities in a centralized shared cache can be changed.Also, if locks are implemented, the approach can prevent destructiveinteraction between runtime systems accessing the same entity byensuring that cached entities that can be modified are not concurrentlyaccessed.

In alternative implementations, the determination of 740 might not bemade. For example, if copy-only shared closures are implemented (e.g., astorage plug-in for copy-only shared closures is used), shared closuresare only copied (as mapping of shared closures is not provided). Inalternative implementations the type of entities and/or mechanisms forretrieving entities can differ.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 7, if the cached entity is to bemapped, then read-only access is granted and a mechanism returns amapping of the requested entity to the requester of the entity (750).

If the cached entity is to be copied, then a determination is made as towhether the requested entity is being used (760). The requested entityis in use if another runtime system is accessing the entity. The cachesystem implementing the process depicted in the flowchart of FIG. 7 canimplement locks. Thus, the determination at 760 can be made bydetermining whether the requested entity is locked. An indication as towhether an entity is locked can be in the cache entry of a cache entrytable, such as the cache entry table 532. If the requested entity isbeing used, the requestor can wait for the requested entity to becomeavailable (770). For example, if the requestor was a thread, the threadcan yield.

If the requested entity is available, a copy of the requested entity isreturned to the requestor (780). Returning a copy of the requestedentity includes providing copy access to the entity such that the entitycan be changed.

Although not depicted in the flowchart, versioning of cached entitiescan be implemented (as described above in reference to versioning ofshared closures in a shared memory). By allowing versioning of cachedentities, multiple copies of a cached entity can be worked on withouthaving to worry about changes being made to a copy that is being workedon. Versioning of cached entities can be limited such that creatingversions of entities does not consume too many resources. For example,versioning can be limited to entities that are not expected to beupdated frequently (e.g., by choice of a programmer). Versioning ofentities can include mapping entities and, if an entity is to beupdated, generating an updated version that is also cached (such thatentities that are mapped can also be changed). When the older version isno longer referenced, that version can be removed and the updatedversion can be mapped in future requests to retrieve that entity.

The cache system of FIG. 5 and the processes of FIGS. 6 and 7 can beimplemented in a suitable server that runs in a client/serverconfiguration, such as a J2EE compatible server. An example of such aserver is the Web Application Server developed by SAP.

Eviction In Caches

Eviction of cached entities can be implemented in a cache systemincluding a centralized shared cache. Once an entity is evicted fromcache, the entity is no longer accessible. Typically, cached entitiesare evicted according to an eviction policy. Processes (i.e.,techniques) for evicting cached entities can be based on a fill level ofa cache (i.e., how full a cache is or, rather, how much is in thecache).

The fill level of the cache can be measured according to one or morefill metrics (i.e., one or more metrics can be used to compute the filllevel of the cache). For example, a fill level can be calculated basedon a fill metric corresponding to an overall amount of memory consumedby a cache. As another example, a fill level can be calculated based ona fill metric corresponding to an overall amount of entities in a cache.For multiple fill metrics, measurements corresponding to the fillmetrics can represent the fill level. Each fill metric has an associatedthreshold and any combination of the thresholds can be used to determinethat a threshold for a fill level of a cache has been reached. Forexample, in one implementation, a threshold for the fill level of thecache can be reached only if measurements corresponding to each of twometrics both exceed an associated threshold (i.e., measurements for bothfill metrics are greater than their respective thresholds). In anotherimplementation, a threshold for the fill level of the cache can bereached if either of two measurements corresponding to each of twometrics exceeds an associated threshold (i.e., measurements for only oneof the fill metrics need be above a respective threshold). In thatexample, two fill metrics can be size of the cache and amount ofentities in the cache; measurements for the fill metrics can be 30megabytes and 1020 entities, respectively; thresholds associated withthe fill metrics can be 50 megabytes and 1000 entities, respectively.Because the threshold for the cache is reached when either fill metricreaches an associated threshold, the threshold for the cache would bereached because a measurement for the amount of entities (i.e., a fillmetric) has exceeded the associated threshold (i.e., the threshold forthe amount of entities being 1000, and 1020 entities being greater than1000 entities).

Based on a fill level of a cache, one or more actions can be performedin a cache system. As described above, processes (i.e., techniques) forevicting cached entities can be implemented such that the processes areactivated based on a fill level. For example, if a fill level is above afirst threshold, a process of eviction that actively evicts cachedentities can be initiated. In a cache that has multiple fill metricswhere each metric has a different amount of associated thresholds,suitable techniques can be used to determine a combination of exceededthresholds to determine whether a threshold of a cache has been reachedand which processes should be performed. For example, in oneimplementation, two fill metrics can be amount of entities in a cacheand size of the cache, and the fill metrics can have three and twoassociated thresholds, respectively. In that implementation, onethreshold of the cache can be reached when a first of two thresholds isexceeded for the amount of entities in the cache and a first of twothresholds is exceeded for the size of the cache; and a second thresholdof the cache can be exceeded when a second of two thresholds is exceededfor the amount of entities in the cache and the first of two thresholdsis exceeded for the size of the cache. When the first threshold of thecache is exceeded, a first process can be performed and when the secondthreshold of the cache is exceeded, a second, distinct process can beperformed. Thus, different combinations of thresholds associated withfill metrics can be used as thresholds for performing different actions.

FIG. 5 includes an example system in which eviction of cached entitiescan be implemented. The eviction of cached entities can be managed bythe shared cache framework manager 530. In some implementations, theshared cache framework manager 530 can evict cached entities inaccordance with a policy (i.e., an eviction policy).

A cache system can use plug-ins to implement different eviction policiesin a cache system. For example, a cache system can have an evictionplug-in corresponding to an eviction policy that approximates a leastrecently used policy. By interfacing the plug-in with the cache system(e.g., copying the policy to a file system and setting environmentvariables for a server that implements the centralized cache framework),the plug-in can be used by the cache system. Because plug-ins can beused (as opposed to, e.g., hard-coding), eviction policies can bedetached easily from a cache system and new eviction policies can beimplemented easily, with little or not effort. Each plug-in can containa specification of a different eviction policy.

Different techniques can be used to implement eviction policies asplug-ins. For example, an eviction policy plug-in can include executableinstructions (e.g., compiled source code) that represent a process ofindicating which cached entity should be evicted. As another example, aplug-in can interface with the shared cache framework 530 and/or thecache entry table 532 via the API 531, such that the plug-in can viewcache entries and, based on certain rules and/or calculations, determinewhich cached entity should be evicted, and cause that entity to beevicted by an API call. A plug-in can act like a black box such that,when called, the plug-in returns an indication of a cached entry thatshould be evicted. As a black box, the plug-in can be designed tofulfill certain implementation details such that the plug-in properlyinterfaces with a cache system.

Although FIG. 5 includes a centralized shared cache, implementations ofthe eviction processes and mechanisms that evict cached entities neednot be implemented in such a cache. For example, a non-shared cache canbe implemented that determines a fill level of a cache based on multiplefill metrics. As another example, a cache need not be implemented suchthat multiple fill metrics are used. For example, in one implementationonly the size of the cache is used as a fill metric.

FIG. 8 is an illustration corresponding to a cache system in whichmultiple thresholds are associated with multiple fill metrics. FIG. 8includes a graph 810 corresponding to a fill metric for an amount ofentities in a cache and a graph 820 corresponding to a size of thecache. The graph 810 includes a measured level 811 (i.e., the fill levelof the cache according to the metric for an amount of entities) andthree thresholds 812, 813, and 814. The measured level 811 can bemeasured by any suitable technique. One technique, can involve countinga number of cache entries in a cache entry table. Measurements can occurperiodically or in response to events. For example, a measurement can betaken after a request to store an entity in the cache, but before theentity is stored in the cache. In a runtime system that includes deadand live entities, such that garbage collection can be required beforeentities are removed, the measured level 811 can include both dead andlive entities, or the measured level 811 can include only live entities.

The graph 810 corresponds to a cache system in which a fill metric forthe amount of entities in a cache is associated with three thresholds.When each of those three thresholds is exceeded, a distinct evictionprocess starts. The processes can overlap, or the processes can bemutually exclusive. For example, if the first threshold 812 is exceeded,a first process can start. Then, if the second threshold 813 isexceeded, a second process can start and that process can run at thesame time as the first process. As another example, a first process canstart in response to the first threshold being exceeded, then, when thesecond threshold is exceeded the first process can be halted and asecond process can start. If multiple processes are associated withmultiple thresholds, one or more processes can overlap or be mutuallyexclusive.

Until the first threshold is reached, no eviction process is running(however, other processes that can reduce the fill level, such asgarbage collection, can run). When the first threshold 812 is exceeded,a background eviction process starts. The background eviction processevicts cached entities in accordance with an eviction policy. Oneexample eviction policy can approximate a least recently used policy.The eviction policy approximates a least recently used policy, as thepolicy is not guaranteed to evict the least recently used cached entity.The eviction policy can approximate, rather accurately model, a leastrecently used process because sorting a list of cached entities toaccurately determine a least recently used cached entity can be resourceconsumptive, so sorting might not occur often. Alternatively, anyeviction policy can be used.

The background eviction process continues until enough cached entitieshave been evicted such that measured level 811 is below the firstthreshold 812. The background eviction process runs in the background.Running in the background can involve the background eviction processonly running (e.g., attempting to evict cached entities) when the cachesystem would otherwise be idle; running when runtime systems that accessthe cache are idle; running in between accesses to the cache; or atother suitable times such that the background eviction process does notsignificantly interfere with the performance of the cache system. As abackground process, the time consumption for evicting cached entities isnot prescribed to a user request.

If the second threshold 813 is exceeded, a second, distinct evictionprocess starts (i.e., distinct from the first eviction process). Thesecond eviction process actively evicts cached entities in accordancewith the eviction policy. When the second process starts, the backgroundprocess of eviction stops. By stopping background eviction, doubleeviction can be avoided and resource usage can be optimized. Activelyevicting cached entities can involve, for example, continually evictingentities until the fill level drops below the second threshold. Incontrast to background eviction, time consumption for evicting cachedentities in prescribed to a user request (i.e., the time consumption ofa requests to store an entity in the cache includes the amount of timeconsumed to evict an entity from the cache). The second eviction processruns until the measured fill level 811 goes below the second threshold813, at which point the first eviction process can start again.

If the measured level 811 is to exceed the third threshold 814, a thirdprocess starts in response to that request. The third process denies anyrequest to add an entity to the cache. For example, if an applicationrequests to add an entity, that entity can only be added to the cache asa shared closure that includes 12 entities, the cache has 998 entities,and the third threshold 814 represents 1000 entities, adding that entitywould cause the measured level 811 to exceed the third threshold 814(i.e., 998+12>1000). Thus, the entity is not added to the cache. Thethird threshold 814 acts as a hard boundary by declining requests to addan entity to the cache. As described above, the technique of determiningwhether the third threshold is exceeded differs from the technique usedto determine whether the other thresholds have been exceeded. Thedetermination as to whether the third threshold 814 has been exceeded ismade prospectively, before an entity is added to the cache, whereas thedeterminations corresponding to the first and second thresholds 812 and813 are made after an entity is already added to a cache. In alternativeimplementations the determinations can all be prospective, or there canbe any combination.

Multiple thresholds corresponding to multiple processes can beimplemented to optimize cache eviction by balancing cache requests andresource usage. Because the first threshold 812 is used to startbackground eviction, requests to cache entities need not be hindered bythe eviction processes in the cache. Thus, user requests are quicklysatisfied in lieu of memory resources. When the memory resources aresufficiently consumed (i.e., when the second threshold is exceeded),active eviction starts, which can ensure the cache does not get toolarge while still enabling entities to be cached. The hard boundarycorresponding to the third threshold can ensure that the cache neverexceeds usage of memory resources that might be at a critical level.

In contrast to graph 810, the graph 820 includes two thresholds 822 and823. The first threshold 822 corresponds to a process of backgroundeviction (i.e., the second process described above in reference to thefirst threshold 812), and the second threshold 823 corresponds to aprocess of declining requests to store entities in the cache (i.e., theprocess described above in reference to the third threshold 814). Thegraph 820 corresponds to a fill metric for the size of cache memoryused. Measured level 821 corresponds to the fill level of the cache forthat fill metric.

Graph 820 can correspond to a different cache system than the cachesystem that corresponds to graph 810. Or, the two can correspond to asame cache system. For example, because the first threshold 812 of thegraph 810 corresponds to a process for background eviction of cachedentities and the first threshold 822 of graph 820 corresponds to aprocess for background eviction of cached entities, if either threshold(i.e., 812 or 822) (or, alternatively only if both) is exceeded, aprocess of background eviction of cached entities can start. Althoughthe fill metrics depicted in the graph 810 and the graph 820 havedifferent numbers of thresholds (i.e., three and two, respectively), inalternative implementations two fill metrics can have a same number ofthresholds. In those implementations, a combination of the thresholdscan similarly be used to determine which processes for evicting cacheshould start, and when.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process 900 of evicting cached entries. At905, a determination is made as to whether a request to add an entity tothe cache has been received. This request can be received, for example,at a cache framework that manages a cache and cache eviction. If arequest has not been received, the determination is repeated (905).

If a request has been received to add an entity to a cache, adetermination of a fill level corresponding to a fill metric is made(910). For example, if the fill metric is an amount of entities in thecache, the fill level is a measurement of the amount of entities in thecache and can be determined by referencing a cache entry table. Asanother example, if the fill metric were a size of the cache, thedetermination could be made by adding the sum of the size of all theentities in the cache. In one implementation, all objects are added to acache as a shared closure. In that implementation, there is a functionfor shared closures such that the size of a shared closure can bereadily determined. Thus, the size of a cache can be determined bycomputing the sum of all of the shared closures in the cache, where thesize of each shared closure can be computed by the function (a size foran individual shared closure can be determined, as described above).

At 915, an expected fill level of the cache is determined. The expectedfill level is a calculation of how full a cache would be were the entityto be added to the cache. This determination can involve adding thedetermination from 910 with a determination as to how the entity wouldaffect the fill level of the cache. In a cache system implementingshared closures and a shared cache, if a request is received to add anentity to the cache and the entity could only be shared if a transitiveshared closure of entities that includes the entity is stored, theprocess at 915 can determine the expected fill level to include allentities that would be in the cache if the shared closure were added.For example, if a fill metric is a size of the cache, the size of ashared closure including the entity requested to be added to the cachecan be computed and that amount can be added to the amount computed at910 to determine an expected fill level of the cache.

At 920, a determination is made as to whether the first threshold wouldbe exceeded were the entity to be added to the cache. If not, the entityis stored in the cache (925). In FIG. 8, a first threshold not beingexceeded corresponds to the region in graph 810 under the firstthreshold 812. Storing the entity in the cache can include storing theentity and other entities from a shared closure to which the entitybelongs.

If the first threshold would be exceeded, a determination is made as towhether the second threshold would be exceeded were the entity to beadded to the cache (930). If that threshold would not be exceeded, theentity is stored in the cache and a background eviction process isstarted (935). The background eviction process can continue until thefill level corresponding to a fill metric goes below the firstthreshold. The region of the graph 810 between thresholds 812 and 813corresponds to the first threshold being exceeded and the second levelnot being exceeded.

If the second threshold would be exceeded, a determination is made as towhether the third threshold would be exceeded were the entity to beadded to the cache (940). If the third threshold would not be exceeded,the entity is stored in the cache and active eviction starts (945).Active eviction removes cached entities until the fill level drops belowa threshold. The region of the graph 810 between thresholds 813 and 814corresponds to the first and second thresholds being exceeded, and thethird threshold not being exceeded. That is the region where activeeviction would be performed,

If the third threshold would be exceeded, the request to add an entityto the cache is declined (950). Declining the request can involvereturning a message to an application or raising an exception.Alternatively, a request can be declined by taking no action. After eachof the processes at 925, 935, 945, and 950, the process 900 continues at905.

Although FIG. 9 was generally described with reference to adding asingle entity to a cache, FIG. 9 could be modified for adding multipleentities. As an example of a modification, in a cache systemimplementing shared closures and a shared cache, if a request isreceived to add an entity to the cache and the entity could not beshared, the request can be denied. Although FIG. 9 was described withrespect to a single fill metric, the processes of FIG. 9 can be modifiedfor using two fill metrics. Although FIG. 9 uses a serial process ofdetermining whether a first, second, or third threshold has beenexceeded (i.e., a determination for the first threshold, then adetermination for the second threshold, then a determination for thethird threshold), in alternative implementations other techniques can beused. Although the first, second, and third thresholds of FIG. 9correspond to processes of background eviction, active eviction, anddeclining cache requests, respectively, in alternative implementationsthe processes corresponding to the thresholds can differ. Similarly, theamount of thresholds can vary. For example, one implementation caninclude four thresholds corresponding to four distinct processes.Although cache eviction was described as having a single policy per animplementation, a combination of policies can be implemented. Forexample, in one implementation where a fill metric has four associatedthresholds corresponding to four distinct processes, a first processcould perform background eviction according to an approximated leastrecently used policy, a second process could perform background evictionin accordance with a least recently used policy (i.e., notapproximated), a third process could perform active eviction inaccordance with a least recently used policy, and a fourth process candecline requests to store entities in the cache.

The disclosed subject matter and all of the functional operationsdescribed herein can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, orin computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuralmeans disclosed in this specification and structural equivalentsthereof, or in combinations of them. The disclosed subject matter can beimplemented as one or more computer program products, i.e., one or morecomputer programs tangibly embodied in an information carrier, e.g., ina machine-readable storage device or in a propagated signal, forexecution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus,e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers. Acomputer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds otherprograms or data, in a single file dedicated to the program in question,or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or moremodules, sub-programs, or portions of code). A computer program can bedeployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at onesite or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by acommunication network.

The processes and logic flows described herein, including the methodsteps of the disclosed subject matter, can be performed by one or moreprogrammable processors executing one or more computer programs toperform functions of the disclosed subject matter by operating on inputdata and generating output. The processes and logic flows can also beperformed by, and apparatus of the disclosed subject matter can beimplemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (fieldprogrammable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integratedcircuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks. Information carrierssuitable for embodying computer program instructions and data includeall forms of non-volatile memory, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor andthe memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in special purposelogic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, the disclosed subject matter canbe implemented on a computer having a display device, e.g., a CRT(cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device,e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to thecomputer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interactionwith a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can beany form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback,or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in anyform, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The disclosed subject matter can be implemented in a computing systemthat includes a back-end component (e.g., a data server), a middlewarecomponent (e.g., an application server), or a front-end component (e.g.,a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of thedisclosed subject matter), or any combination of such back-end,middleware, and front-end components. The components of the system canbe interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication,e.g., a communication network. Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (“LAN”) and a wide area network (“WAN”),e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

Although the processes of FIGS. 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are shown as beingcomposed of a certain number and type of processes, different processes,additional and/or fewer processes can be used instead. For example, inalternative implementations locks might not be implemented. Thus, theprocess shown in FIG. 7 need not include the processes performed at 760and 770. Similarly, the processes need not be performed in the orderdepicted. Thus, although a few implementations have been described indetail above, other modifications are possible. Other implementationsmay be within the scope of the following claims.

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an informationcarrier, the computer program product comprising instructions operableto cause data processing apparatus to: receive a request at acentralized shared cache framework to store an entity; cache the entityin a shared memory in response to the request, wherein the shared memoryis operable to store the entity such that the entity is accessible to aplurality of runtime systems, and caching the entity in the sharedmemory comprises storing the entity for one of the runtime systems;receive a request at the centralized shared cache framework to retrievethe entity from the shared memory; and if the entity is stored in theshared memory, retrieve the stored entity from the shared memory,wherein the centralized shared cache framework is operable to retrievethe entity for any of the runtime systems.
 2. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cache the entity inshared memory comprise instructions to: interface the centralized sharedcache framework with a storage plug-in to store the entity in a type ofmemory that is associated with the storage plug-in.
 3. The computerprogram product of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cache the entityin shared memory comprise instructions to cache a shared closure ofentities.
 4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein theinstructions to cache a shared closure of entities comprise instructionsto: cache versions of shared closures of entities.
 5. The computerprogram product of claim 3, wherein the instructions to cache a sharedclosure of entities comprise instructions to: cache at least two typesof shared closures, the types of shared closures comprising: a firsttype corresponding to shared closures being mappable; and a second typecorresponding to shared closures being copy-only.
 6. The computerprogram product of claim 3 further comprising instructions to: lock thesecond type of shared closures to prevent multiple accesses to acopy-only shared closure.
 7. The computer program product of claim 3,wherein the instructions to retrieve the stored entity from the sharedmemory comprise instructions to: retrieve a cached entity that is of thefirst type of shared closure by mapping the cached entity to a runtimesystem.
 8. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein theinstructions to retrieve the stored entity from the shared memorycomprise instructions to: retrieve a cached entity that is of the secondtype of shared closure by copying the cached entity to a local memory ofa runtime system.
 9. The computer program product of claim 1 furthercomprising instructions to: determine the memory used by cachedentities.
 10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein theruntime systems are virtual machines.
 11. The computer program productof claim 1, wherein the runtime systems are Java virtual machines.
 12. Acomputer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier,the computer program product comprising instructions operable to causedata processing apparatus to: receive a request at a cache frameworkfrom Java virtual machines to determine an amount of memory used by thecache framework; determine a first amount of memory used by the cacheframework; and send the first amount in response to the request.
 13. Aserver computer system comprising: a shared memory operable to storeentities accessible to a plurality of runtime systems; and a centralizedshared cache framework operable to perform operations comprising cachingentities for one of the runtime systems in the shared memory, whereinthe shared cache framework stores the cached entities in the sharedmemory and the centralized shared cache framework enables access to thecached entities to runtime systems such that any of the runtime systemscan access a same entity.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the servercomputer system further comprises an interface for different cachestorage plug-ins, each storage plug-in associated with a type of memoryand operable to interface the type of memory with the centralized sharedcache framework.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server computersystem further comprises a cache storage plug-in operable to interface adatabase with the shared cache framework.
 16. The system of claim 13,wherein caching entities comprises caching shared closures of entities.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the centralized shared cacheframework is further operable to determine an amount of memory consumedby cached entities.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the centralizedshared cache framework is further operable to determine the memoryconsumed by the cached entities based on a function operable todetermine an amount of memory used by a shared closure of entities. 19.The system of claim 13, wherein the runtime systems are Java virtualmachines.